Jamaat-e-Islami calls countrywide shutdown over Nizami’s war crimes verdict

The Jamaat-e-Islami, which had actively opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, has called for a countrywide shutdown after the Supreme Court turned down Motiur Rahman Nizami's petition to review his death sentence for war crimes.

Following the apex court’s decision on Thursday, the party, in a web post, dubbed the charges against its chief Nizami as “false and fabricated”.

It called a 24-hour general strike across Bangladesh, which will start from 6am on Sunday.

“The false cases against Motiur Rahman Nizami have been initiated in an attempt to decimate the Jamaat-e-Islami’s leadership,” reads the web post.

It also announced a three-day protest against the top court’s decision, which paves way for Nizami’s execution for the atrocities he committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

The party had earlier called for shutdown and protests after the war crimes tribunal’s verdict on Nizami as well as the appeals verdict by the Supreme Court.

Its activists had then unleashed large-scale violence across Bangladesh, but its general strikes in recent times were rather lacklustre.